Investor buys Heritage Hill Country Club

LAKEVILLE — A Florida real estate investor has purchased the Heritage Hill Country Club, and he intends to reopen the golf course within weeks.

BRIAN FRAGA

LAKEVILLE — A Florida real estate investor has purchased the Heritage Hill Country Club, and he intends to reopen the golf course within weeks.

The country club has been closed since the previous owner, William J. Raynor, killed himself and his wife, Barbara, inside their Lakeville home in February.

John Pavao, a Fall River native and entrepreneur who specializes in acquiring residential and commercial properties for sale, bought the golf course Monday from the Raynors' company, BR Real Estate Management Inc.

Mr. Pavao, CEO of JPS Investment Group, declined to disclose how much he paid for the 64-acre club, only saying that he agreed to assume the property's existing mortgage and outstanding debts. A recent listing on LoopNet, a real estate Web site, advertised the club for $1.7 million.

Mr. Pavao said he intends to hold on to Heritage Hill and possibly expand the clubhouse into a larger banquet hall that could host weddings and other functions. He is reassembling the staff, including the general manager, Joel Baptista, and said they are responsible for revitalizing the club.

"These guys are going to be here, and they'll run the place," Mr. Pavao said. "They're excited, and I think it's going to work. I know it's going to work."

Landscape contractors mowed the lawns around the clubhouse Thursday for the first time in four months. Workers used two tractors normally used for highway landscaping to cut grass around fairways that had grown higher than 3 feet. A wood sign at the front entrance declared the club will open "soon."

"In about a month, I'll have signs everywhere," Mr. Pavao said. "Everybody is going to know this place is alive."

The club and grounds had been neglected since police found the Raynors dead inside their 22 Heritage Hill Drive home on Feb. 9. Investigators determined Mr. Raynor strangled his wife with a plastic zip tie and then killed himself in similar fashion. The Plymouth County District Attorney's Office said the couple was facing "extreme financial problems," but would not elaborate.

The couple bought the Heritage Hill Country Club in 1995 for $1.2 million, and had been trying to sell it the past two years. The property is assessed at $3.4 million by the town.

Following the murder-suicide, the clubhouse's door was closed and the phone disconnected, even as the club's Web site still advertised 2007 club memberships.

Members were left wondering about the club's future, not to mention the fees some had recently paid.

Mr. Baptista, who has worked at the club since 1991, said he received numerous telephone calls from frustrated members wanting to know when the club would open. He said he will meet with them to discuss possible resolutions.

"I'm sure some people are upset with the way things took place," he said. "There was nothing I could do whatsoever. I was waiting with the staff to see what was going to happen with the ownership."

Mr. Baptista and Jared Tucker, the club superintendent, said they hope to have the course up and running in time to salvage some of the peak golf season.

"We're trying to bring a course back from the dead," Mr. Tucker said. "It was a disgrace to see the way it looked. It's a lot of work, so it's hard to know how long it will take to finish everything."

Mr. Pavao said he decided to buy Heritage Hill even though he was aware that it will be difficult to make a profit from owning a golf course.

"I know I can make this profitable if I was to turn this clubhouse into a banquet facility for weddings," he said. "I'm thinking a Hawthorne Country Club, a Lakeside in Dartmouth. The Venus de Milo started as a bowling alley."

JPS Investment Group acquires properties to flip them at a profit. For example, the company recently acquired through an auction the former Orlando home of record mogul Lou Pearlman, the producer of the Backstreet Boys, 'NSync, Aaron Carter and others, and is selling the house for $12.5 million. The company holds a satisfactory rating from the Better Business Bureau.

Mr. Pavao generated recent controversy when he bought the old Fall River Police Station four months ago for $160,000. He told city officials he planned to renovate the building for office space and a restaurant, but instead flipped the building for $695,000.

Mr. Pavao said he bought Heritage Hill after seeing it for the first time last Friday. He says there are money-making opportunities for the par-3 course, but said the staff is responsible for realizing its potential.

"It depends on them," he said. "If they can't make this place profitable, the bottom line is I can't stay open."